Love of Tutoring
by RisingFromPerdition
Summary: It's Draco and Alexa's sixth year of Hogwarts, the year Draco has a task to do. His stress causes him to fail classes, and Alexa tutors him, but something happens during a tutoring session...


**This is just a short one-shot I wrote out of boredom one day :)**

* * *

"When is a door not a door?"

"When it is ajar," answered Alexa. She stepped into the crowded Ravenclaw common room and looked around for her best friend. She spotted Luna Lovegood fairly easily, her roaring lion hat standing out amongst the blue and bronze.

"How was the Quidditch game?" asked Alexa, as she was working in the Charms room with Flitwick and had to miss the match.

"Oh, the Slytherins won," said Luna, "but I think I may have spotted a few nargles! I sent Daddy an owl straight away, since Professor Slughorn was too distracted to pay them any attention. I think the Wrackspurts might've gotten him . . ." She trailed off, but Alexa didn't mind. She was used to Luna talking about such creatures and didn't think much of it anymore.

Making her way up the stairs, she planned her tutoring session for tomorrow. Flitwick had asked her to tutor _Draco Malfoy_. Alexa was surprised, because usually in their Ravenclaw/Slytherin Charms classes, Draco did fairly well. This year, however, he seemed to be lacking spirit, and rarely made dangerous objects fly around the room. When he did, he only did so halfheartedly. Alexa didn't know what got into him, but didn't care much. All she cared about was helping him with the _Aqua Eructo _charm.

After thinking over her lesson for tomorrow, she got into bed and fell asleep, vaguely wondering, "What _could_ have gotten into Malfoy to make him so . . . not Malfoy?"

* * *

Sitting in the empty classroom where they planned to meet, Alexa waited for the Slytherin she would be tutoring. And there he came, slumping through the door instead of strutting like he usually did. As he sat in front of her, Alexa noticed by his eyes that he hadn't been getting much sleep lately. For a second, a mere second, she felt worried for him. But that quickly disappeared when he snapped, "Let's get this over with! I've got stuff to do."

Alexa rolled her eyes, but got up from the table. "Come on, the sooner you get the hang of this spell, the sooner we can leave."

The next thirty or so minutes consisted of Alexa showing Draco the right wrist movements and correct incantation of the spell, but still he couldn't get it. He seemed to have something on his mind, something preventing him from giving his whole attention to learning the charm.

At last, she finally couldn't keep herself from asking. "What's up with you, Malfoy? This charm is simple!"

"Nothing's wrong! Ask me again and I'll hex you!"

Boy, did he seem moody today.

"Come on, Draco," said Alexa. Draco sneered at her, but she continued. "You know you're acting strange. You seem sort of . . . stressed."

"Why would you care? It's none of your business." But even as he said it, he seemed to be trembling, on the verge of tears. This made Alexa even more worried.

"Draco, you can tell me," she started softly. "Just tell me, I can make you feel better."

Finally, he couldn't take it. He broke down crying and slumped to the ground, his face in his hands. Alexa was shocked, even a bit frightened. She never imagined Draco Malfoy, of all people, being one to sob like this.

Quickly, she went over and put an arm around him. "Shhh, it's okay, Draco. What's wrong?" she cooed in a soft voice. "Just tell me what's wrong."

Draco trembled and tried to choke back his sobs. After a few minutes of Alexa's waiting, he finally did enough to talk. "My, my . . . dad is m-making me do something, and I c-can't do it. I've been try all y-year to do it, and if I don't, he's g-going to k─ punish me, badly."

Alexa didn't think a punishment could be that bad, but Draco's renewed tears of anguish showed her that it could be. She felt sorry for him. _He looks so young, so innocent, sitting on the ground with tears glistening on his beautiful face . . . What? No, I don't think that, he's not beautiful . . . I don't like him anymore! It's been 3 years since my crush wore off. . . ._

But she couldn't lie to herself. A small part inside her always still liked him, and seeing the sensitive side of him made it come out more. Alexa realized she loved him. Suddenly, without thinking, she slowly lift his chin up and pressed her lips softly to his. She expected him to reject, to push her away, and was surprised when he kissed her back.

After a moment Draco's crying died down, and Alexa pulled back to see his eyes closed and a soft smile on his lips. "Do you . . . do you feel better?" she asked.

Draco nodded and opened his eyes. "A lot better. Alexa, have I ever told you I liked you?"

"You do? But, you never seemed to notice me . . ."

"Yeah, I like you a lot. I just never came out with it because it's not too common for a Slytherin to date a Ravenclaw. But, I suppose there's a first to everything, isn't there?" He smirked, back to his old self, sort of.

Alexa's heart was almost bursting, but she had a question to ask him. "What are you going to do about your dad?"

That wiped the smirk off Draco's beautiful face. "I'm not sure, but if you're with me, I'm not so worried anymore." His smiled returned as he bent down to kiss Alexa again. All thoughts of Charms tutoring and punishments were gone, and the two only thought about eachother.

Giggling, Alexa said, "I love this tutoring thing."


End file.
